really quite lucky

 The sun shone strongly once it burned away the fog. Looking out the window across the field I was reminded that grey fog is my mode of being this time of year - so far, so good and my fingers are crossed.

Yesterday we had the pleasure (snort) of shoveling/snow blowing yet again. The snow is getting pretty deep although not as extreme as the winter of 2007/08 - that was some big amount of snow.

Here’s a photo from the winter of 2007/2008 - mega snow. The snow was less than a foot below the height of our fences. If the horses had been inclined they could have stepped over the strand and gone for a walk about (they didn’t tho).

We had a lovely virtual visit with Cathey last night. We’ve spoken a few times on the phone, but this was the first time we’d ‘seen’ her since the pandemic. She got used to the medium quickly so we nattered into the night. Coincidently, it was almost a year to the day since she and Jim visited us last.

Let’s do a recap on my countdown/up widgets: 350 days since restrictions started. We’ve done 128 days since we brought the camper back from Kirsten. There are only 62 days left until May 1st. Strangely time is rushing by at a breakneck pace. When we sat down at the table tonight we reminisced about our beer advent. It seems so long ago.

As of today the US has 520,000 deaths. Canada has had almost 22,000 deaths. Worldwide the number shockingly sits at 2.55 million poor souls dead to Covid-19.

“Just tell yourself, Duckie, you're really quite lucky.”

~Dr. Seuss

I feel good I knew that I would

 Do you ever suddenly realize that in terms of the universe and the billions of years it’s been around and will be around, we are just a nano blip. It is a bigger concept than my mind can comfortably hold. Just think, we’ve only had electricity a little over 100 years and yet the Earth has been around for 4 billion years. Puny.

Today was another wonderful day, full of sunshine and almost spring like temperatures. Joy is the word that comes to mind. The days have been like that lately, even when the sun is hidden behind the clouds. Lots of bouncy music, loud singing, and raucous dancing around the house is triggered by the joy. Or perhaps the music triggers the joy. Whatever the source, I’m living it.

I feel good a la James Brown!

After a good long sleep Wednesday night I worked up the nerve to hand Carm the scissors again… He did a pretty good job so now my hair is a mid-length bob with just a small gash at the back. Not my favorite hair cut, but it will do. I could go to the salon for a proper cut, but I’m not ready to go short yet. That will come in May (assuming we aren’t in another lockdown).

Aside from that, the last few days have been regular groundhog days with not much to differentiate them from one another. But that’s the way it goes these days.

More vaccines approved. Oh, and if you watch any tv you’ve seen hundreds (thousands?) of long needles jabbed into people's arms. I’m not crazy about needles and generally don’t watch when I’m getting one, but gosh, it’s too much! I’m not sure if they are trying to desensitize us but it’s not working.

“Whoa! I feel good, I knew that I would, now

I feel good, I knew that I would, now

So good, so good, I got you

Whoa! I feel nice, like sugar and spice

I feel nice, like sugar and spice

So nice, so nice, I got you…

~James Brown

soundtrack on my shoulder

 In less than 24 hours after placing my order, everything was installed, the transformation well underway. I love the blue ‘velvet’. Once I had a few minutes to take it all in, we ordered a carpet for in front of the fireplace - weirdly, I had a few rugs in my favorites list and settled on this one - the same design as the one we already have! I guess I know what I like.  

I love it! The carpet will go under these chairs.

the horror before - we were both sick of that sickly green

Spike’s loveseat

I feel that I should have a soundtrack playing as I go about my day or maybe I should strap a giant 80s style boombox onto my shoulder. First would be a song by 10cc that I sing every single morning:

When you open your eyes

To a brand new morning

And the sun shines

Above you

You pull on your breeches and say

Oh well,

It's the start of a brand new day

After some coffee, an ancient Disney song from ‘Song of the South’ would be on repeat for several minutes. Throw in some wild gyrations:

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay

My, oh, my, what a wonderful day

Plenty of sunshine headin' my way

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay!

Around lunchtime I’ll belt out a good rendition of ‘Dancing in the Street’:

Calling out around the world

Are you ready for a brand new beat?

Summer's here and the time is right

For dancing in the street

And then it all took a nosedive. I got the scissors out to trim my hair a bit - I think I did a pretty good job, but there were a few long strands at the back that I couldn’t reach… so… I asked Carm… he cut a clump of hair 2” shorter!!! WTF! WTF! WTF! I don’t know if I can trust him to even it up... 

Luckily it’s just hair and will (hopefully) grow back. Plus I can’t see it in the mirror. And it’s not like I’m going anywhere 😣

“At some point, you gotta let go, and sit still, and allow contentment to come to you.”

~Elizabeth Gilbert

a blessing greater than riches

 We’ve been watching ‘Stanley Tucci’s: Searching for Italy’ which is a leisurely stroll through the food of each region. The last episode featured Rome and gosh, the pasta… It’s a hard watch when you are trying to cut out carbs… but in the name of feeding my Italian honey, I searched for a recipe for Pasta Cacio e Pepe and cludged it with a carbonara recipe (bacon). OMG. So freaking good! And incredibly easy as it was all done in the instant pot. It was TOO easy - with the 2 of us working it could be on the table in less than ½ hour… midnight snacks anyone?

8 oz spaghetti noodles uncooked

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 lb about 2.5 cups Pecorino Romano, grated

(we used 1.5 cups)

Freshly cracked black pepper to taste

3 slices of bacon cut into lardons (optional)

1 heaping Tbsp minced garlic (optional)

I’ve been spending lots of time on Pinterest, Amazon, etc. searching for ideas to spiff up the place. Maybe because we’ve been home so much, I am sick to death of everything. We are even thinking of painting (gasp). I made the initial order on Amazon today - hopefully the goods will be here tomorrow or Thursday. I’m excited!

partway through the transformation

Spike suffered through a bath today - the poor guy wasn’t happy but went along none-the-less, even stepping into the shower on his own steam. He loves the towelling after the misery and then races around the house like a maniac. Is it joy that he survived the misery, or perhaps joy at not stinking?

We got some more snow yesterday, not enough to snowblow, but some accumulation on the deck. With Carm’s help this afternoon we cleared that in minutes. It wasn’t much, but with the temps above freezing it was heavy and packed easily. Good snowballs for Adia! 

I suppose now that we’ve had warm, melting weather, the snow will be shieet.

“I am content; that is a blessing greater than riches; 

and he to whom that is given need ask no more.”

~Henry Fielding

what you think about

 It is another glorious day today with the sun shining brightly at a comfortable -7… cool enough to keep the snow at its peak. I can’t recall a winter that’s had perfect snow for so long. We really are blessed.

Yesterday was awesome as well. I was late getting up but the sound of the snowblower in the laneway encouraged me to guzzle down ½ my coffee and get outside to shovel the back deck while the sun was still shining on it. Oh gosh! It was an incredible mood lifter - sun, a bit of exercise, a flannel shirt and down vest, oh yeah baby! I had a serious case of peaceful easy feeling after that.

I have had a long run of feeling good - I think it’s 3 months - a record as far back as I can remember. In fact, even in the ‘good old days’, I would have had short bouts of depression often. But not now! I’m not sure if it’s just good luck, or my fairly regular doses of CBD, or I’ve figured out how to stay well, or the absence of stress from the pandemic. I’m going with it :-)

I do feel a little starved for company though…

Do you ever have ‘appetizer supper’? Where all you have are  nibbles and bites for dinner? Last night we decided to make it bacon night so I cooked up a bunch of really-bad-for-you snacks. So good! I only used 9 pieces of bacon so I guess it wasn’t too bad ;-)  I think I’ll do another theme night in a few weeks - any ideas? I’m thinking: vegetarian, walnut/pecan, mushroom, dip, Mexican, Italian… it will be a challenge! The trick is to find recipes that keep to the theme but are different enough to be interesting. I suppose I could dig up a few stuffed mushroom recipes to see which one we like best?

This photo came up in a memory from 2006 - I think it’s Fiorgyn but it’s hard to tell under all that hair! She looks straight in the rear, but I think it’s just the way she was holding her leg. She was sold to the states and eventually bred. Her son was exported as a stallion to NZ. 

CNN is so boring these days - hurrah. The US has 499k deaths so far, Canada has 21k. The end is not in sight although with the vaccine maybe by September.  I hope they bring back bubbles by spring.

“It isn't what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.”

~Dale Carnegie

murder on the owl express

 I can’t let the day go by without wishing Spike a happy 13th birthday! He got a few extra treats plus a special supper of raw turkey breast. He seemed pleased to be getting some extra attention.

Today I removed more of Christmas/winter… I was sick to death of all the burgundy blankets, pillows and stuff. It now looks (to my eye) so much better, or at least a welcome change. Carm probably hasn’t even noticed. I’ve been surfing Amazon to look for new slipcovers for the wing chairs - I hate the ones I have now and a change would go a long way to freshening up the place. I need CHANGE! The walls are starting to close in.

It’s a snow day again. Oh, it’s not a blizzard by any means but still the white stuff falls from the sky, piling up on the already drifted ground. Despite all this white I feel a faint hope towards Spring. It’s a tiny yellow light barely visible at this point in the winter but I can imagine that it will be here soon.

After days and days of laziness I got on the snowshoes yesterday. My path was totally snowed in forcing me to struggle step by step, snow overtopping my boots as I sunk to my knees - so much for snowshoes! The last time I remember breathing so hard is when I was struggling up Kirsten’s NZ hill.

As I struggled around the short loop of the field I came upon the dramatic silhoutte of a murder scene. I’m not sure who or what but gosh there was a struggle. I took the opportunity to catch my breath - taking a photo is always a good excuse for a break.

Spike is learning a new skill: using a little dog bed that is tucked beside the futon for a little booster to help getting up. He figured it out on his own, but is not using it consistently. A flash of brilliance in a muddle of dementia. Aside from the ongoing struggle with jumping up on high things, he is doing well. His eyes look clear with no swelling in his third eyelid.

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, 

and those who matter don't mind.”

~Bernard M. Baruch

glorious

 The heat of the sun brought me back to the present (where had I been? Oh, just mindless musings). The impossibly blue sky played host to a blazing sun while the snow beneath my feet crunched in a most satisfying manner. This winter has been marvelous with temps below freezing and no freezing rain. The snow is in perfect shape and if I hadn’t been busy shovelling the back deck (with Carm’s help), I would have gotten out on the snowshoes to repack my path.

Glorious! The best snow ever!

The days have become a blur as they pass so quickly; if I wasn’t in a content cocoon it would be dizzying. As it stands, there is very little to distinguish one day from the next.  

Spike had his recheck vet appointment - we’ll stop the antibiotic eye drop but keep using the steroid one. She mentioned cancer as a possibility but it doesn’t seem possible with sudden bilateral uveitis. It kind of makes me question her diagnosing skills. Also, why would we stop the antibiotic drop so early?

Other than a few virtual meet-ups, including one with the family to celebrate Dad’s birthday, and a quick porch visit with Pat as I passed her some frozen soups for her hip replacement recovery, we’ve done/seen nothing/nobody. It’s all fine though, I’m still in good spirits.

“Such short little lives our pets have to spend with us, and they spend most of it waiting for us to come home each day.

It is amazing how much love and laughter they bring into our lives and even how much closer we become with each other because of them.”

~John Grogan

sinks full of dishes

 Before I write about anything else I’ll give an update on Mr. Naughty. He’s doing well! His eyes are open and he’s able to see. big sigh of relief.

I was happily chained to the stove today - while Carm did some grocery shopping and picked up my parcel from the post office. The first order of business was making a cake for tomorrow’s zoom birthday celebration for Dad. I had tagged a ‘Vanilla Buttermilk’ to try. It’s reasonably tasty, although I might prefer my Mom’s Golden Glow Cake. I think I’ll make it again with a simple change. They had me divide the batter into 3 pans for a triple layer cake. Next time I’ll only do 2 layers and bake for a bit longer since I’m not making a towering cake, and in fact aren’t stacking the layers at all. I like more cake than icing so the skinny layers are not my favorite.

what is? 4 bowls, 4, 2, and 1 cup measuring cups, a bunch of measuring spoons, a dish to weigh the butter, spatula, whisk, kitchen aid paddle, a knife for cutting the butter, and who knows what else. Answer: the mess created by making 1 cake.

After dessert was made it was time to work on supper, a special supper for my Italian honey. I started with making 50+ meatballs. Some in a skillet with Carm at the helm, and some in the frying basket of the actifry. We decided that the actifry does the best job. Little ribs were sauteed in the instant pot. Then the pot was deglazed with some wine, San Marzano tomatoes and tomato sauce was added. Some of the meatballs and the ribs were added back to the pot then all was cooked for 30 minutes with a natural release.

Cue the music for the tarantella and get ready to swoon. Oh so good. Not as good as Carm’s mom’s of course, but a fine replacement.

At the end of our giant carb glut, I had leftover pasta & meatballs for one night, 1 jar of sauce, 34 extra meatballs for the freezer, and some of the little riblets. I looked at all of this and felt a little sad as I enjoyed my afternoon, but with all this extra food I won’t be able to do a repeat for a month or more.

The sun shone brightly but not strongly enough to warm past -14C, no wonder Spike didn’t want to stay outside long enough to do his business! (he did eventually, but he was 3-legged cold).

"You ask me why I spend my life writing?

Do I find entertainment?

Is it worthwhile?

Above all, does it pay?

If not, then, is there a reason? …

I write only because

There is a voice within me

That will not be still.”

~Sylvia Plath

head banging

 Within minutes of getting up this morning I was on the internet searching for what could have made my little dog blind overnight. It was heartbreaking watching him bump into walls as he tried to find his way back to bed. My heart ached.

Once he was awake again I took a closer look: his eyes were squeezed shut and when he did blink the inner eyelid was swollen and red. Believe it or not, this might be a good thing. Got in touch with the vet and got an appointment for the afternoon.

Dr. Cardi wasn’t 100% positive but thought it was likely uveitis, either cause by an infection or by an auto-immune response. So he’s got 2 kinds of eye drops and some pain killers, and a recheck next week. We are hoping it’s an infection as that will clear up. Auto-immune response: not such a good outcome. Poor wee guy.

He sure has had a rough go of it lately and sadly his misery is not over soon as he has a dental appointment at the beginning of March.

"Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace.”

~Milan Kundera

a shave and a hair cut

 There wasn’t as much zip to my doo-dah this morning but still my mood shone as brightly as the sun. It wasn’t a day of frenetic activity but I was still getting things done: a batch of vanilla blueberry bites; Spike clipped except his legs; puttering around tidying (how can I tidy every day and still have more mess?) and as usual, supper prep. 

Tonight we had chicken thighs done in the actifry on a bed of sauteed mushrooms with a lemon caper sauce, a side of roasted rutabaga, and for a bit of green a heaping pile of brussels sprouts. Full full full. Adia spent dinner time in her crate as Grace enjoyed what was left on the bones - that girl can pick a bone clean!

We are having some wicked cold nights but the calendar pages are flipping quickly to spring.

I feel antsy tonight though and wish we had company over :-(

"Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”

~Abraham Lincoln

one of those zipa-dee-doo-dah days

 It was one of those zipa dee doo dah days with the kind of morning that brings invisible bluebirds to twirl around the kitchen with you as you make your coffee. No live music required, and that was even before my first coffee.

The sun was hiding behind light clouds but in my soul it blazed. Talk about getting up on the right side of the bed!

Not much has happened since I last wrote almost a week ago (how does time go by so quickly?). Every day seems the same as the last with small exceptions. 

Friday Spike visited the vet so we could set up an appointment for him to have a dental. It was hard handing the leash over to the technician.

We had a bit more snow and as a side note: the quality of the snow is phenomenal. We’ve eaten more cheesecake although we’ve adjusted from three to two to one a day. I made an awesome red pepper sausage soup tonight. I have to write it down so I get the flavours right the next time.

"Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay

My, oh, my, what a wonderful day

Plenty of sunshine headin' my way

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay!”

she focused her gaze

 I ended up using 16 of the 24 little jars; garlic sauce, spinach dip, onion dip, spiced nuts, all neatly stored in grab and go containers. Precisely arranged glass jars bring joy.

I had to make the cheesecake bites one more time so that I could test making a straight lemon bite and a lemon/blueberry one. As if they’d turn out badly. I might make a batch of gingerbread cookies to grind into crumbs for the bases. What flavour of filling would you pair with the gingerbread? I was thinking vanilla or is that too old-school?

We got another 10 or more cm of snow last night… it’s up to my knees now. Carm did the usual snowblower wrangling, while I sashayed with the shovel in one hand and the hammer in the other… when I hit the first nail with the shovel I knew I couldn’t put off hammering in those little suckers anymore. I was finished by 1:30 or so and by the end of the day much of the deck was dry. We might be getting temps above freezing tomorrow which is a big piss off as it will wreck our beautiful snow.

“She felt high, as if she had consumed some inappropriate and presumably illegal substance. She focused her gaze on the street lamp outside the window and sat still while her brain worked at top speed.”

~Stieg Larsson

24 jars

 We are back to flakes of snow falling from a mostly white sky - if you turned me upside down the sky could easily be confused with the untouched snow in the field. Winter days like today make me feel like I could disappear into the gloom so I try to wear bright clothes, just in case! 

I think back to summer when the grass and trees are 100 shades of green and tiny colourful wildflowers dot the fenceline. So much colour. In the winter the colour is compressed into tiny rainbows captured in snowflakes, only released on a sunny day.

I made another batch of eggbites today: roasted red pepper w feta cheese and sun-dried tomato w cheddar. All topped with a bit of bacon. I’m pretty sure these aren’t low cal, but they sure are good! And no carbs for the win.

Yesterday we had some sun so I dashed out on my snowshoes for a quick tromp. I don’t go far, in fact if you saw how far I went you’d laugh and think me an idiot, but the cold on my face triggers a rosacea break-out. 

In some sort of pre-mania organizing fit, I bought a bunch of tiny 4oz mason jars so that I can organize dips, nuts, etc. in serving size containers. I can make a batch of dip, divy it up, freeze some, and refrigerate the rest. It will be easy to grab a jar, heat if necessary before chowing down with some celery or cucumber. If it’s easy I’m more likely to do it. And since I like things a little bit organized I was delighted that 8 jars fit into the black plastic Costco mushroom containers. So little to make me happy!

they hold 1oz of nuts perfectly!

My house is overfull with too much stuff, but some of it is neatly organized. Busting out the plastic containers in my stash is usually a sign of impending mania. Those times haven’t been coming very often these last few years and it’s showing as piles and cupboards become stashed with stuff. The bottom of the stairs going into the basement is a junkyard horror show! Maybe I can leverage my good mood and fake myself out into getting in the groove.

Poor wee Spike had an accident in his crate again tonight...

“I compare myself with my former self, not with others. Not only that, I tend to compare my current self with the best I have been, which is when I have been mildly manic. When I am my present "normal" self, I am far removed from when I have been my liveliest, most productive, most intense, most outgoing and effervescent. In short, for myself, I am a hard act to follow.”

~Kay Redfield Jamison